The Susquehanna River borders three quarters of a mile of camp property. In the middle 1800's, a canal was built along the river from New York State to Pittston, PA. Along one of Camp Lackawanna's nature trails, that canal can still be seen. Reproduced here is an article written by T.K. Woods about the canal.

Pennsylvania's officials were confident that in 1854, after more than 18 years of on again, off again construction, the North Branch Extension Canal would be open to traffic from Pittston to the New York State Line.

The eighteen mile long Junction Canal was construction by private capital from Pennsylvania's North Branch Extension to New York's Chemung Canal and opened early in 1854. A packet boat was then brought in from the New York System to make regular runs between Elmira, New York and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

When water was let into that part of the Extension north of Coxton and south of Towanda, though, it was impossible to maintain levels deep enough to carry traffic. The earth is very porous along the upper Susquehanna and the canal channel hadn't been properly lined with clay "puddle." All normal attempts to "fix" the canal failed. Leaking banks became undermined and fell into the river. Whole levels suddenly drained away into underground caverns.

Allegations of incompetent engineering and political corruption were made. Whether or not these charges were true, North Branch Extension Superintendent Matthew A. Gamble resigned in the fall of 1854. His final report estimated that it would take an additional expenditure of $49,000 to open the canal to through traffic.

William Rose Maffet, an engineer with a great deal of experience on canals, railroads and mines was hired as Chief Engineer of the North Branch Extension in November, 1854. He promptly hired Thomas S. McNair, a lifelong friend, as Assistant Engineer.

Maffet had become acquainted with a number of good engineers over the years and he now attempted to hire the best of those in a frantic try at getting the Extension Canal running. One such man was J. Bennett Smith, then enjoying a "cushy" job in the Engineering Department of the Lackawanna & Bloomsburgh R.R. Maffet had gotten Smith his first engineering job and felt he "owned" him. Smith must have though so, too, for he soon found himself in Wilkes-Barre with Maffet, facing a cold Northeastern Pennsylvania winter on the Extension Canal.

A Herculean effort was made to get the canal in shape before the end of the year, but the job was more than anyone had figured. It was finally decided to deepen the channel all along the defective section and line it with a good thickness of clay "puddle." For this purpose large clay beds were purchased near Milan.

All this was in the future, however. A heavy snowstorm and cold spell hit the region early in December and Maffet decided to shut down construction for the season. He traveled to Harrisburg to get the money ($14,000) to pay off the crews. The money was given to Smith with the order to take it to McNair who was supposed to be staying at George Saxe's Hotel at the head of the narrows above Coxton. Let's now have S. Bennett Smith, himself, take up the narrative, from an old newspaper interview . . .

"I put the money in an old carpet bag and took the early morning stage line that ran between Wilkes-Barre and Scranton and was operated by Dave Seamons and Dan Roberts. I left that stage at Upper Pittston and traveled the towing path to Sax's Tavern, but found that McNair had taken his crew and gone up the line to do some engineering work.

"My orders were to deliver the $14,000 to McNair. He had left two days before I arrived and had gone up the line, and it was very uncertain where I would find him. The snow was several inches deep and traveling was pretty tough, but I took the tow path to find him. I put a stick through the handles of the old carpet sack and took it over my shoulder and hoofed it to McKuen's. Bill said McNair had stayed there Monday night and had gone further up the line. I tramped to Tunkhannock where I learned that Mac had stayed the night before, but he had gone further up the line that morning.

I knew that there was some engineering work to be done on the neck above Vosburg and I would probably find him at some farm house. I got my supper at Billings' Hotel and shouldered my carpet bag and took the tow path like a long eared Beagle hound. I was on the track and I had to get my man before I went to sleep. About 8 o'clock I found McNair at Archy Ballentine's, about a mile above Vosburg tunnel. I had tramped about twenty eight miles that day through the snow and was mighty glad to get rid of that money. Some fools tote around a lot of money and do not have as hard a time to get rid of it as I had."

Some limited through traffic was able to use the Extension starting in November of 1856, but half loads and double teams were the rule through 1857. By the spring of 1858, Gamble's $49,000 estimate to "fix" the North Branch Extension Canal had swollen to more than $300,000 in actual expenditures, but thousands of tons of Anthracite could now be shipped north to New York and Ohio.

The State disposed of all of its Branch Canals in 1858 by selling them to the Sunbury & Erie Railroad. The North Branch and North Branch Extension Canals were later acquired and operated by separate canal companies, but the services of Maffet and McNair were no longer required. They both went on to bigger and better things. Hopefully, so did J. Bennett Smith, a rough Engineer who rode and hiked nearly 40 miles through a snow storm to safely deliver a "fortune" entrusted to him.